Advertisement for 'Uricure' pills

Uricure was the brand name of a medicine used in cases of gout, or metabolic arthritis. It was  one of very many gout remedies on the market, none of which could cure the disease but of all which could reduce the intense pain and discomfort it caused. Given the mass of rival products, vendors needed the best possible publicity for their medicines.

This poster, published around 1910 to advertise Uricure in Spain, is the work of the brilliant Italian designer Leonetto Cappiello, who worked in Paris. His boldly coloured designs on a black background made a strong impression on passers-by in the Paris streets, and his work was much in demand. Uricure is now remembered almost only for Cappiello's poster, not for its quality as a medicine. The first medicine which, in the hands of a skilful physician, could effectively cure gout was allopurinol, discovered by George Hitchings, Gertude Elion and their colleagues in the Burroughs Wellcome laboratories in the USA in the 1960s.